The 78th annual Tony Award nominations, celebrating the best in Broadway theater, reflect a season shaped by unique storytelling and genre experimentation with new works that push boundaries in form, subject and perspective.
Previous Tony Award winners Sarah Paulson and Wendell Pierce announced the awards.
“Maybe Happy Ending” is a story about obsolete robots in a futuristic Seoul; “Buena Vista Social Club” brings the iconic Cuban musical collective’s story to the stage, and “Death Becomes Her” is based on a dark comedy film.
In the best play category, nominees include “John Proctor is the Villain,” which draws on “The Crucible” to examine teenage self-discovery in the #MeToo era; “Oh, Mary!,” the much-talked-about satirical reimagining of Mary Todd Lincoln’s personal life, by Cole Escola, who is also nominated as its star; and “The Hills of California” by Jez Butterworth, a family drama set in a declining British seaside town. Notable revivals nominated are “Gypsy,” “Sunset Blvd.,” and “Our Town.”
Some of this season’s Hollywood heavyweights were also nominated, including George Clooney in his Broadway debut in “Good Night, and Good Luck”; Sarah Snook, who plays more than two dozen characters in the one-woman reimagination of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” and Sadie Sink in “John Proctor is the Villain.”
But high-priced “Othello,” starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal, was completely left out of the nominations. Also snubbed: Kieran Culkin and Robert Downey Jr., in this season’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “McNeal,” respectively.
Leading acting nominations in musicals include Jonathan Groff for his performance as Bobby Darin in “Just in Time”; six-time Tony winner Audra McDonald in the legendary role of Mama Rose in the revival of “Gypsy”; and Nicole Scherzinger in a much-lauded performance as fading movie star Norma Desmond in “Sunset Blvd.”
Directing nominations for musicals include Michael Arden for “Maybe Happy Ending” and Jamie Lloyd for “Sunset Blvd.” and Sam Mendes for “The Hills of California” and Danya Taymor for “John Proctor is the Villain.”
Special awards have been announced ahead of the ceremony. Harvey Fierstein will receive the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, and Celia Keenan-Bolger will be honoured with the Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award for her advocacy work through the arts.
“I am so excited and happy that the Tony voters recognized the great work the performers in our shows are doing,” said LaChanze of LaChanze Productions, which is behind “Purpose” and “Buena Vista Social Club,” both up for multiple nominations including best play and best musical, respectively.
“It just goes to show you there’s room for new musicals and new ideas coming to the stage and it inspires me as a producer to do more work like this,” she told Reuters.
Tony voters include voting members of The Broadway League and the board of directors and designated members of the advisory committee of the American Theatre Wing, along with members of various theatrical guilds and unions.
The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Sunday, June 8, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. This year’s awards will be hosted by Oscar-winner “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo.
The nominees include:
Best Play
“English”
“The Hills of California”
“John Proctor is the Villain”
“Oh, Mary!”
“Purpose”
Best Musical
“Buena Vista Social Club”
“Dead Outlaw”
“Death Becomes Her”
“Maybe Happy Ending”
“Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Best Revival of a Play
“Eureka Day”
“Romeo + Juliet”
“Thornton Wilder’s Our Town”
“Yellow Face”
Best Revival of a Musical
“Floyd Collins”
“Gypsy”
“Pirates! The Penzance Musical”
“Sunset Blvd.”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
George Clooney, “Good Night, and Good Luck”
Cole Escola, “Oh, Mary!”
Jon Michael Hill, “Purpose”
Daniel Dae Kim, “Yellow Face”
Harry Lennix, “Purpose”
Louis McCartney, “Stranger Things: The First Shadow”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Laura Donnelly, “The Hills of California”
Mia Farrow, “The Roommate”
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, “Purpose”
Sadie Sink, “John Proctor is the Villain”
Sarah Snook, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Darren Criss, “Maybe Happy Ending”
Andrew Durand, “Dead Outlaw”
Tom Francis, “Sunset Blvd.”
Jonathan Groff, “Just in Time”
James Monroe Iglehart, “A Wonderful World: The Louis Armstrong Musical”
Jeremy Jordan, “Floyd Collins”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Megan Hilty, “Death Becomes Her”
Audra McDonald, “Gypsy”
Jasmine Amy Rogers, “BOOP! The Musical”
Nicole Scherzinger, “Sunset Blvd.”
Jennifer Simard, “Death Becomes Her”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Glenn Davis, “Purpose”
Gabriel Ebert, “John Proctor is the Villain”
Francis Jue, “Yellow Face”
Bob Odenkirk, “Glengarry Glen Ross”
Conrad Ricamora, “Oh, Mary!”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Tala Ashe, “English”
Jessica Hecht, “Eureka Day”
Marjan Neshat, “English”
Fina Strazza, “John Proctor is the Villain”
Kara Young, “Purpose”
Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Brooks Ashmanskas, “SMASH”
Jeb Brown, “Dead Outlaw”
Danny Burstein, “Gypsy”
Jak Malone, “Operation Mincemeat: A New Musical”
Taylor Trensch, “Floyd Collins”
Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Natalie Venetia Belcon, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Julia Knitel, “Dead Outlaw”
Gracie Lawrence, “Just in Time”
Justina Machado, “Real Women Have Curves: The Musical”
Joy Woods, “Gypsy”
Best Direction of a Play
Knud Adams, “English”
Sam Mendes, “The Hills of California”
Sam Pinkleton, “Oh, Mary!”
Danya Taymor, “John Proctor is the Villain”
Kip Williams, “The Picture of Dorian Gray”
Best Direction of a Musical
Saheem Ali, “Buena Vista Social Club”
Michael Arden, “Maybe Happy Ending”
David Cromer, “Dead Outlaw”
Christopher Gattelli, “Death Becomes Her”
Jamie Lloyd, “Sunset Blvd.”
